When Nouns Become Verbs: How Language Keeps Up With Technology

"Well, right after she facebooked me, I googled the best places to live in the south bay. I told her she could always just jump and Craigslist and creep out some apartments for him...whatever works."

Wiki-wha?!

Because of my experience traveling (and living ) in places other than the good ol' US of A, I know what it's like to struggle through a language barrier. I've played my fair share of charades games with shop owners, waiters and French teachers in order to get my point across...but what happens when the words of my own language start to blur?

The advent of social media changed the way Gen Y-ers talk (and write ).... to each other.

As a child born right in the middle of Generation Y ( 1982-1995 ), I started my MySpace page when I was a senior in high school (2004-2005), and had to wait a few weeks until my university made it onto the exclusive Facebook network (2005).

I remember MySpace before you could customize your background, and Facebook when you had to have a college e-mail address to join.

Though MySpace is virtually extinct, Facebook is alive and well; Mark Zuckerburg was just named Time Magazine's Person Of The Year for 2010. Though I would love to go on and on about Facebook (due to my mild obsession with Mark), I'll get back on topic.

The term "MySpaced" came about as a short cut for, "he wrote me a message on MySpace", or "she commented on my MySpace page"

...soon this snowballed into, "he facebooked me," " facebook messaged me" and later, "she facebook chatted me".

So I ask you, when did Facebook become a verb?

Did it slowly creep up on us with the advent of texting? It seemed innocent enough to relay something someone "texted" you.

(Texted is even more hilarious because it delves into the fact that it's past tense of a non-existant verb...texts are just that, TEXT..like, words on a page...HOW is that a verb?!)

Was it when Google became the universal search engine? It seems like I say "I'll just google it" at LEAST twice a day.

(Also hilarious because Google is the name of a COMPANY. It's like when people claim they need a Starbucks when I KNOW they mean they need COFFEE)

Was it when LOL because so universal that our Gen X parents understand it, even TEXT it to us?

Or perhaps when Twitter limited us to 140 characters?

And speaking of Twitter, why do tweeters "tweet" and not "twit" or "twittered"?

I twittered it. That DOES sound dumb.

Is it just slang? For now, I think so.

If I was writing to a teacher, no WAY would I write that someone facebooked me...my spell check doesn't even recognize it. I would write the long hand version, stating that someone wrote me a message on Facebook.

Social media isn't going anywhere. Despite news stories about social media coming into conflict with the workplace, it can absolutely help people and businesses market and promote, as well as reach out to a large audience on a more personal level. I mean, let's be honest, I follow Chris Colfer on Twitter, that's real.

Moral of the story, Gen Y's, aka lovers of all things social media, can turn anything into a verb. I personally am guilty of just plain making up words. I even turn verbs into adjectives when I can.

As a lover of language, I say bring it on.

(Can you believe after all that I ended my sentence with a preposition?)

I knew you could.